Optimum treatment of allergic rhinitis in children.

Allergic rhinitis is a very common disease, occurring in 10% of children and up to 20% of adolescents. The effects of the disease are frequently underestimated and not regarded as a serious health problem. However, if not properly treated, the disease is associated with harmful sequelae and poor quality of life.

Linkage to atopy on chromosome 19 in north-eastern Italian families with allergic asthma.

Background: Allergic asthma is a multifactorial disease for which there is a widely assessed, although poorly understood, genetic involvement. Genome-wide screens reported evidence for linkage of allergic asthma-related phenotypes to several chromosomal locations. Markers on chromosome 19 have been linked to allergic asthma phenotypes in different populations in independent studies.

Chromosome 14 linkage analysis and mutation study of 2 serpin genes in allergic asthmatic families.

Background: Genome and chromosome screens reported DNA markers on chromosome 14 linked to allergic asthma or intermediate phenotypes in several populations.

Objective: We sought to perform a linkage study on chromosome 14 and a further association study on candidate genes mapped in the region found to be linked to allergic asthma or intermediate phenotypes.

Methods: The study consisted of a sample of 189 families (847 genotyped individuals) from a restricted geographic area in northeastern Italy.

Linkage analysis of chromosome 12 markers in Italian families with atopic asthmatic children.

We investigated 116 Italian atopic families (560 individuals) for linkage with 13 DNA markers on chromosome 12. All the subjects were phenotyped for asthma, total serum IgE, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, skin-prick positivity to common aeroallergens, and atopy. A relative location map of the markers was prepared from Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain families.